Morbus Pācis: Chapter 9
Jim "W-where are we off to now?" Jo asked with a shaky breath. The demonic attack took a lot out of her. I glanced at her arm which was still bent in a slightly awkward angle. "Back to Minnesota?" "Nah, that's a waste of time." Acadia said from the driver's seat. "Metus will only tell us to go somewhere else to defeat another demon. Its best to stay here in Maine." "We're on our way to get some supplies." I added. "Salt especially. I was reading through that book Metus gave us a little while earlier, and it tells us how to bless holy water. It isn't really that hard. The book also talks about 'Cristo,' which is Latin for God. If it's said in a demon's presence, their eyes flash black, so you can tell. Its so fascinating, all of the-- " "We'll also need some guns," Kenshin cut in. To be fair, if he hadn't, I just would have rambled on. "Currently Jim's the only one that has any, and I doubt our weapons would do any real damage to them." "The guns don't either." Castella pointed out. She had been awfully quiet since we started talking about supplies. "That's where Jim comes in." Acadia said loudly. "I already told you," I began with a hint of doubt. "I can try to put salt on the bullets and in the shotgun shells, but it might not work." "It'll work." Jo said confidently. She gave me a warm smile. "You can do anything if you put your mind to it." I don't know why exactly, but her words sent a warm confident feeling rushing through my body. I felt like I could do anything. Jo had that effect on me. I always thought it was the fact that I had known her for what seemed like forever, but now it feels like something different. My train of thought was interrupted by Kenshin. "Shouldn't we split up?" He began. "Two of us go to get the salt and anything else we need, and the other three go to get guns." As soon as the words left his mouth I grabbed Jo's hand. "I'll go with Jo." I said. After what happened the last time we split up, I wasn't letting her out of my sight. "Okay..." Kenshin said slowly. "So us three," He motioned at himself, Acadia, and Castella. "Will go and get the guns." Acadia stopped the car a few minutes later in front of a grocery store. Jo's arm was still slightly bent, so I reached into the back and grabbed one of my shirts. I tied it around her neck and placed her arm onto it, so that it acted as a sling. Jo and I then clambered out of the car before they sped off down the street. We walked slowly into the dimly lit grocery store. "Found the salt." Jo said after a moment. We began to place as much salt as we could into a shopping cart. After a few minutes, my hand met Jo's in the pile. She quickly drew her hand back and turned around, but not before I saw how red her cheeks went. I cleared my throat and we pushed the shopping cart to the check-out counter. "That sure is a lot of salt." The woman at the counter stated. "I only know a few people who carry around that much salt, and they only do it because its part of their job." A sudden jolt of paranoia rushed through me. "Cristo," I said, concealed within a cough. My eyes were on the lady the whole time, and her eyes were still a piercing blue. "They work here." She said with a laugh. Then she noticed my confused expression. "The people I know that have to carry salt." I chuckled quietly and Jo gave me a concerned look. "Its too hot around here." The woman said, clearly attempting to start a conversation. "I mean, its the middle of September! It shouldn't be warm!" I didn't have anything to say, and niether did Jo, so we said goodbye to the woman and left the store. "What was that about?" Jo asked me as soon as the door closed behind us. "Its nothing." I replied, and she gave me a look. She could always tell when something was bothering me. "I've just been slightly paranoid ever since we met Metus. I mean, anyone we run into could be a demon!" "I know, Jim." Jo answered. "I understand. But its okay. Isn't there anything you can use as a sort of anchor? To calm yourself down?" "There is something." I started slowly. After a moment or two, I continued. "You." Jo blushed and began to stutter. "I- er. Wha- um. I don't under- hm." "What I mean," I began. "Is that I can always count on you to be you. You're the one person I'd know for sure the moment you were possessed." "Wow." She smiled. "Jim, I want to tell you some-" I interrupted her before she could say anything else. "You're like my sister," I started with a smile. "So its no wonder you're my anchor." Jo looked crestfallen for a second but seemed to recover herself and smiled. I was about to ask her what that was about when Acadia suddenly pulled over right in front of us. "Get in." She said quickly. "Now!" I opened the back and shoved the bags of salt into it while Jo climbed into the car. I quickly followed. "What's with the rush?" I asked right before I heard a police siren. The police car raced past us towards the direction Acadia and the rest came from. "What did you-" Jo began, but stopped herself. "Actually, I don't think I want to know." "Trust me," Castella said, and she sounded out of breath. "You don't want to know." ---- We parked the car in a forest, where we decided to spend the night. Kenshin set up the tents and decided to call it a day. While he was setting up the tents, I coated all of the normal bullets with salt. The girls stayed up for a while but eventually also decided to sleep. I stayed outside and decided to begin putting salt in all of the shotgun shells they had "borrowed." I was halfway through the third pack - there were seven - when I heard Acadia's voice coming from their tent. Jo answered quickly in reply. They seemed to be whispering, most likely to not wake Castella. I was about to continue with my job when I heard my name. "...Jim is completely oblivious!" Jo said quietly. I know it was wrong to eavesdrop, but I was curious; what could I be oblivious to? "He'll figure it out soon." Acadia replied impatiently. "Its not like Kenshin is any less oblivious." After that, they started talking about Camp, so I decided to continue with the shotgun shells. After around half an hour, I had completed them all. I packed the shells away, and clambered into my tent. Category:The Supernatural Chronicles Category:Chapter Page Category:Albus Chase Category:Morbus Pācis